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Development: On 5 May, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla delivered her first annual state of the union address to an opposition-dominated national assembly (AN).

Significance: Chinchilla delivered a conciliatory speech following the legislative debacle that left the country without congressional leadership for the first time since 1949 and which prevented her from delivering her address on the customary date of 1 May. Her actions, however, sat in stark contrast to the contents of her speech: while Chinchilla spoke of dialogue and conciliation, when she arrived at the AN she only greeted a handful of (loyal) Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) legislators and after delivering her address, she left without meeting any member of the opposition and skipped the reception for her.

Key points:

• Saying "my presence this afternoon at this legislative plenary session does nothing more than confirm my government's disposition to shake hands and intertwine our wills [with the opposition]", Chinchilla clearly addressed the 1 May embarrassment. "No one holds a monopoly on truth...Although the events of that day seemed to momentarily cloud some of the traditions of our centennial democracy, fortunately for our institutions, good sense prevailed...I greet the new directorate; its appointment was the product of a democratic exercise and it deserves our most profound respect".

• The president's subsequent quick exit from the AN was attributed by Communications Minister Roberto Gallardo to her busy agenda; however, he failed to explain what these commitments were. Emma Lizano, Chinchilla's spokeswoman, said the president had a pre-scheduled meeting with the leader of the PLN congressional bloc, Viviana Martín.

• Danilo Cubero, leader of the Movimiento Libertario (ML) bloc, said the president's words and behaviour were "inconsistent", but Lizano said her message of "shaking hands" was a "metaphor" and should have never been taken literally.

Development: On 5 May Mexican billionaire and the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, in Honduras for a government-organised investment fair, expressed an interest in President Porfirio Lobo's proposed model cities.

Significance:  Slim knows a cheap business opportunity when he sees one and the Hondurans will be hoping that other investors will take his cue. The Lobo government is hoping to capture US$15bn (the equivalent of annual GDP) in new investment in the ‘Honduras is open for Business' event. 

Key points:

• The US undersecretary for international trade, Francisco Sánchez, who attended the fair in the country's main business hub, San Pedro Sula, said that the US government "recognised the important steps taken by the Honduran government to improve the investment climate". The government recently approved five new investment-promotion laws. The US has long been the country's main trade and investment partner, with some 200 US firms operating there. 

• President Lobo yesterday congratulated the judiciary for its move to annul corruption charges against the ousted former president, Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), which should clear the path for the country's reinsertion into regional forums. The hardline president of the supreme court, Jorge Rivera, said earlier this week that the appeals court ruling was "a happy coincidence" for the government. The equally conservative public ministry, which originally levied the charges, is mulling an appeal.

• Slim's telecoms operator, América Móvil, recently announced the acquisition of 100% of its Irish rival Digicel's operations in El Salvador and Honduras, and will also begin operating in Costa Rica by year-end.

Development: On 4 May a local watchdog, the Instituto Para el Desarrollo y la Democracia (IPADE), issued a report on Nicaragua's electoral process ahead of the 6 November general elections.

Significance: The report is the first by the watchdog for this voting cycle and was damming.

Key points:

• The report criticised the partiality of the supreme electoral court (TSE) which is headed by Roberto Rivas, a close ally of President Daniel Ortega.

• The Ipade also raised concerns about access to cédulas (national identity cards) which are necessary to vote.  Voting itself is not mandatory. According to the Ipade, of the 80 municipalities which it had sent observers to, only 18 (22.5%) had delegations set up to issue the cédulas.

• This adds to existing controversy regarding the CSE's decision in August last to increase the price of cédulas by 600% to C$300 (US$13). This is in a country where 44.7% and 9.7% of the population were described as living in poverty and extreme poverty in 2009 (on US$1.60/day and US$0.64/day respectively). In its annual human rights report released last month, the US State Department cited local civil society groups as warning that the move disguised an attempt by the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) to manipulate voter lists and that "government and political party resources were used to purchase large numbers of cedulas [sic] for party members".

• A December 2010 poll released by M&R Consultores claimed that more than 460,000 citizens (12% of the eligible population), lacked cédulas and that 70% of these people were either members of opposition parties or independents.

• Aside from ongoing concerns about Ortega's refusal to allow international and respected local watchdogs to oversee the November vote, Ipade also highlighted as a problem Ortega's April decree changing the electoral boundaries in a clear move to benefit his FSLN.

Development: On 6 May the head of the supreme electoral court (TSE), María Eugenia Villagrán, announced that, as of June, information regarding the electoral process will be broadcast in four of the main indigenous languages (k'iche', mam, kaqchikel and q'eqchi') via 30,000 radio spots on 90 different radio stations.

Significance: This is the first time that the TSE has complied with the 2003 law of national languages which compels state institutions to provide information translated in the indigenous languages spoken in each region. It also suggests that the long marginalized indigenous sector (which conservative estimates put at 40% of the national population, comprising 24 different groups) could play a more important role in the 11 September election.

Key points:

• Although it will be possible to hear the spots across the country, the TSE explained that the main objective is to have an impact in the seven (out of 22) departments with an indigenous majority: Totonicapán, Sololá, Quiché, Alta and Baja Verapaz, Chimaltenango and Huehuetenango.

• This attempt to mobilize the indigenous vote follows a change to the electoral law, which took effect before the 2007 election, increasing the number of polling stations (JRVs) by 65% from 8,910 in 2003 to 13,756 in 2007. New polling stations were created in areas that contained over 500 registered citizens, taking into account criteria such as residence, access, distance and security, as part of efforts to improve voter participation. This particularly affected rural communities in the country's interior, many of which are primarily composed of indigenous populations, and was thought to benefit President Alvaro Colom and his centre-left Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) – which won 20 out of Guatemala's 23 electoral districts.

• The European Union's electoral mission report on the 2007 election cited an unprecedented interest in the indigenous electorate from the competing political parties, both as a result of the decentralization but also the likely "significant media repercussions" of the decision by indigenous leader Rigoberta Menchú to run for the presidency (although she ultimately took only 3% of the vote). Menchú is planning to stand again in September.